Family: Faith in Sunnydale
by victoriamartynne
Summary: Seventh in the Family Series. Dawn calls Cordelia asking for help and Cordelia and Faith go to Sunnydale. But is it Dawn that ends up in trouble?
1. Chapter One

Faith half carried, half dragged Cordelia into the hotel.  
  
Fred and Gunn looked up from the desks with worried expressions on their faces.  
  
"What happened?" Fred asked.  
  
"I'm fine." Cordelia told them, a small smile on her face.  
  
"Amara demon." Faith clarified, heading for the stairs. "Cordy got thrown through a window, is Angel back yet?"  
  
"Not yet." Gunn answered. "You need some help?"  
  
"No, we're fine." Faith told him with a smile. "It looks worse than it is. Could you bring some antiseptic up? I need to get the glass out."  
  
"Sure thing." He replied.  
  
"Ow." Cordelia complained.  
  
"Stop whining." Faith told her.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Oh, come on!"  
  
"Faith, that hurts!"  
  
"Stop being a baby!"  
  
"Faith, I swear, if you don't stop that I'm gonna."  
  
"Gonna what?" She taunted. "Kick my ass?"  
  
"Angel's usually a lot gentler!" She complained.  
  
Faith laughed. "I'm not Angel honey!"  
  
"Like I can't tell."  
  
"I should hope you do."  
  
"Faith, that's it, get your hands off me! This can wait while Angel gets back, I'm not that desperate!"  
  
Faith laughed and sat up straight. "Look, you can't sit here for hours with bits of glass in your back."  
  
"If it wasn't for you and your need to go kill something then I wouldn't have bits of glass in my back."  
  
"That wasn't my fault."  
  
"Then whose fault was it?"  
  
"The window of Angel's car." She replied and began to dig out the glass again.  
  
"Ow."  
  
"Oh, come on, I barely touched you!"  
  
"You're digging your fingers into me and I'm pretty sure I can't take any more!" She shouted.  
  
"What's going on in there?" Gunn asked through the door.  
  
"Cordy and I are indulging!" Faith shouted back. "Leave us alone, we're pretty close to."  
  
"It's okay!" Cordelia interrupted. "I got some glass in my back and Faith is getting it out for me."  
  
"Okay." He sounded like he didn't believe her but left anyway.  
  
"That was low!" Cordelia told her as Faith exploded in giggles.  
  
"But it was funny!"  
  
"Yo man!" Gunn called out to Angel as he made to go up the stairs. "I wouldn't go up there if I were you!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Your girl's at it with the slayer."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"Which one what?"  
  
"Slayer?"  
  
"Oh, Faith." He chuckled. "Hard at it if you ask me."  
  
Angel rolled his eyes and started climbing the stairs again. What were they doing now?  
  
"Mommy?" Connor asked from the doorway.  
  
"Hey Connor, you come to make mommy better?" Cordelia told him and dangled her arm off the end of the bed so he could come and hug her.  
  
She kissed the top of his head and then winced as Faith pressed a bit harder on one of her wounds.  
  
"Who loves mommy?"  
  
"Me!" He told her, gazing up at her, his eyes wide.  
  
"What are you doing?" Angel asked, standing in the doorway.  
  
"Hi honey!" Cordelia exclaimed. "Have a good night's hunting?"  
  
"Yeah, you?"  
  
"We whooped some ass!" Faith replied. "Of course, Cor got her own ass whooped in the process."  
  
Cordelia bent her arm behind her so she could swat her. "I did not. But maybe you could have saved me a couple of wounds if you hadn't flirted with the vamp before you killed it."  
  
Angel shot a dirty look at Faith and came to look at Cordelia's back. By then Faith had removed most of the glass, if not all, but it still needed disinfecting.  
  
"Here, I'll take over now." He told her.  
  
She shrugged and moved out of the way.  
  
"Daddy?" Connor looked Faith  
  
"Daddy's been bringing home the bacon." Faith told him. "And mommy's been bringing home the bread that it comes on."  
  
Both Cordelia and Angel turned to give her funny looks.  
  
"What? You always look at me like that!" She complained with a smile.  
  
"You always make us look at you like that." Cordelia retorted.  
  
"Ashy?" Connor asked.  
  
"Ashleigh is sleeping baby." Cordelia told him. "Like you should be, why did you get out of bed?"  
  
He just looked at her.  
  
Faith grinned. "Want me to read you a story?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Not a Mills and Boon again!" Cordelia ordered as Faith followed Connor to his room.  
  
"What's a Mills and Boon?" Angel asked.  
  
"You wouldn't want to know."  
  
The next morning Faith came bounding into their bedroom while Cordelia and Angel were both still asleep.  
  
She prodded Cordelia. "Cor, fire!"  
  
She jumped up, clutching the sheet around her naked body and felt Angel drop off the other side of the bed at her movement.  
  
"Fire? Where?"  
  
Faith burst out laughing. "You are too easy!"  
  
Angel scowled from his position on the floor. "You were so much better when you wanted to kill me, at least then I got woken up for an actual reason."  
  
"This is an actual reason." She told him patiently.  
  
"Which is?" He prompted.  
  
"Wes needs you to come downstairs and help him identify the demon you saw in your vision last week." She told Cordelia.  
  
"And this couldn't wait while a reasonable hour?" Cordelia grumbled.  
  
"I'm just the messenger." She replied and edged towards the door. "And the only one who was brave enough."  
  
Faith slipped out of the bedroom before one of them attacked her.  
  
That night Faith dragged Cordelia to a bar where they drank copious amounts of alcohol.  
  
Angel and Wes had laughed at them when they'd arrived back home in a taxi but relented and helped them up the stairs after Faith had walked into the banister.  
  
Wes had been planning on going home but with Faith in the state she was in he decided that they'd be better off staying at the hotel.  
  
Cordelia sighed as she got out of bed, now was not a good time to be getting up. She stumbled over something on the bedroom floor and cursed as she stubbed her toe on the nightstand.  
  
Ashleigh's cries could be heard easily in the room from the nursery next door, apparently only to the living. Angel was happily sleeping on the pillow next to hers.  
  
She pulled on her robe, or rather Angel's robe, and went into the nursery. Connor was sleeping peacefully but Ashleigh was wide awake and hungry.  
  
"Come on baby, let's get you some food." She murmured and picked her up, pressing her to her chest. She went across to the microwave and mini fridge to get a bottle ready.  
  
"Shush honey or you'll wake daddy up." She glanced through the door at the comatose Angel. "Then again."  
  
"Jesus Cor, can't you shut her up?" Faith uttered as she stumbled through the doorway, startling Cordelia who in turn startled Ashleigh. "It's like I've got a hundred hammers bashing on my brain! I heard her right down the hall!"  
  
"I'm sorry." Cordelia whispered, sticking the teat of the bottle in Ashleigh's mouth. "And yeah, feeling the hammers!"  
  
"I guess we drank more than we thought last night." Faith muttered and sank to the floor so she was sat cross legged.  
  
"Comfy?" Cordelia asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Not as comfy as I was in my bed." She grumbled and let herself flop backwards until she was laid flat on the floor with her legs crossed.  
  
"Can I get you a pillow or a duvet?" She asked sarcastically.  
  
"I'm good, but thanks." Faith replied, ignoring the sarcasm.  
  
Ash finished sucking on the bottle.  
  
"Wow that kid could burp for America." Faith commented, her eyes closed.  
  
"Hey!" Cordelia protested and prodded her with her toe.  
  
Faith swatted her foot away. "You know what?"  
  
"What?" She began rocked Ashleigh back and forth to try and get her to sleep again.  
  
"I feel sick!" She sprang up and darted into Cordelia and Angel's bathroom to be sick.  
  
Cordelia followed, rocking Ashleigh. "Feel better now?"  
  
She raised her head from the toilet. "Slightly."  
  
Cordelia smirked and went to put Ashleigh down.  
  
When she came back Faith was passed out in the bath.  
  
She sighed and went to get the comforter from the bottom of the bed to cover her up with.  
  
"Night Faith."  
  
Cordelia woke hearing an angry male shout and a female giggle. She glanced at Angel's side of the bed. "Oh no."  
  
She jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom where Angel was desperately trying to cover his manhood while Faith laughed at his situation.  
  
Cordelia leaned against the doorframe. "What's going on in here?"  
  
"I'm enjoying the peep show!" Faith told her, bending her head backwards to see her.  
  
"I'm not!" Angel replied pointedly.  
  
"Okay." Cordelia took matters into her own hands.  
  
She lifted Faith by her arms so she was out of the bath and shoved her out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind her. "I always knew the saying big feet, big shoes always applied to you Angel!" She called through the door.  
  
Cordelia bit back her smirk as she saw Angel was not amused. "Baby, you know that was a compliment, right?"  
  
She went to wrap her arms around his waist and kissed his chin. "She was giving you a compliment."  
  
"I didn't expect walking into my bathroom naked to find a slayer in my bath tub!"  
  
She couldn't help it and burst into peals of laughter.  
  
When she and Angel finally went downstairs Faith had gone out to get coffee and Fred was giving them both small smirks whenever they looked at her.  
  
"Fred honey, spit it out." Cordelia eventually said, dropping her pencil onto the desk.  
  
"Oh, it's nothing." She smiled.  
  
"Did you talk to Faith this morning?"  
  
"No." She said quickly.  
  
Cordelia saw straight through her. "What did she say?"  
  
"Oh, something about a bathtub and a very surprised Angel." She grinned.  
  
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "I bet she did."  
  
"We got a phone call this morning." She told her, changing the subject.  
  
"Who from?"  
  
"A client." She replied and pulled a sheet of paper off her pad. "There's a demon living in their basement. They want someone to clean it out."  
  
She read the notes Fred had made. "It sounds like a Mobo demon. We dealt with one a couple of years ago."  
  
"It is." Fred confirmed. "I did some research before you came down."  
  
"Thanks Fred, when Faith gets back we'll go see to it." She promised. "Is Angel still training?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, he took Gunn down with a couple of axes."  
  
"Should we be worried?" Cordelia joked.  
  
She was saved from answering as Faith breezed back into the hotel. "Coffee everyone!"  
  
Her announcement brought Wes out of his office. He grabbed a cup and kissed her cheek before going straight back in.  
  
"Nice to see you too." She told his retreating back.  
  
"Drink on the move Faith, we got a case." Cordelia told her, standing up and grabbing a cup.  
  
"We get to kill anything?" She asked hopefully.  
  
Cordelia pulled a face. "I swear there's something wrong with you."  
  
"So, do we?" She asked again.  
  
"Yes." She told her wearily. "Grab a weapon."  
  
She went to the weapons cabinet and pulled out a long sword. "You want?"  
  
Cordelia pulled back her jacket to show the dagger she had attached to her belt. "No, I'm good. Fred, tell Angel I'll be back soon?"  
  
She nodded. "Sure thing."  
  
They set off for the door, Faith teasing Cordelia about what had happened this morning. 


	2. Chapter Two

"So, you've seen both of them." Cordelia told Faith, driving with one hand on the wheel and taking a drink of coffee with the other. "Which one's the biggest?"  
  
Faith laughed, almost choking on her own coffee. "I'm not going to tell you that, I'm a lady."  
  
Cordelia burst out laughing. "Yeah, right, and Fred's a slut. Who's bigger?"  
  
Faith was still laughing. "Neither."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"It's not just Angel and Wes that I've seen." She said smugly.  
  
Cordelia took her eyes off the road to look at Faith incredulously. "What have you been up to?"  
  
"Nothing, I just happened to see certain other people while they were doing things." She replied cryptically.  
  
"Like who?"  
  
"Uh, Gunn for one, and Spike."  
  
"How the hell..?"  
  
"Well, Spike and Buffy were getting it on down in the basement the last time they were in town and I happened to see them."  
  
"And Gunn?"  
  
"Oh, I only saw his flaccid."  
  
"Only? I only like never saw it, come on Faith, spill!" She demanded.  
  
"He was peeing and he didn't know I was in the bathroom."  
  
"How didn't he know?"  
  
"I'd just turned the water off and I was stood in the shower. I kind of had a peek." She admitted.  
  
"But who is the biggest?" Cordelia asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Gunn." She relented and told her.  
  
"Are you sure? I mean, I know he's black and black men are supposed to be the biggest, but Angel is pretty big."  
  
"Oh, I know that, but I think Gunn may just have an edge." She concluded.  
  
"Damn, how the hell did he end up with a wallflower like Fred?" Cordelia muttered.  
  
"And not you?" Faith smirked. "You're married little lady!"  
  
"I know that." She told her, waving her hand for emphasis. "And I love Angel, but little Fred with big Gunn? It doesn't fit somehow."  
  
Faith laughed. "Damn straight. And I didn't get the chance to test him out before she did."  
  
"Aw, poor Faith." She clucked and pulled over. "We're here."  
  
The demon took no effort to kill and they arrived back at the hotel just after lunch. The phone was ringing and Cordelia had to run to catch it.  
  
Cordelia was startled when she realised it was Dawn.  
  
"Cordelia, I need to talk to you, it's kind of private." She told her.  
  
"Okay, you can talk to me, you know that." She leaned over and slammed the office door with her foot so Wes couldn't hear; she could see him shuffling around with a pencil stuck in the side of his mouth. She held a finger over her mouth to tell Faith to be quiet.  
  
"Well, I've kind of being seeing this guy for a couple of weeks."  
  
"Does Buffy know?"  
  
"No!" Dawn exclaimed. "And you can't tell her 'cause she'd totally freak!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, he's a couple of years older and he's got a car and she'd just freak. Anyway, the other day, we kind of did it."  
  
Cordelia's eyes widened. "It?"  
  
"Yeah, you know, sex."  
  
Cordelia spluttered. "Dawn, aren't you a little young to be having sex?"  
  
Faith's eyes widened and she scooted closer to Cordelia so she could hear better.  
  
Cordelia covered the mouthpiece and asked Faith to put some coffee on. She got up grudgingly, making her promise to tell all afterwards.  
  
"No, I mean, all my friends are doing it so I did it."  
  
"Dawn, your friends might be saying they've done it but they might not have, that sort of thing is the kind of thing they tell you when they want be the most grown up and most popular and the coolest. They want to look like they're the best and so they say things like that when probably they haven't done a thing." Cordelia told her, partly speaking from personal experience.  
  
"So, they might not have done it?" She sounded disappointed.  
  
"No." Cordelia told her gently. "Of course, they might have but you shouldn't do things just to fit in and be 'cool'. You should do things because you want to. Did you want to?"  
  
"I guess so." Dawn sounded crestfallen.  
  
"Were you careful?"  
  
"Of course, no-one was in when we did it so there was no chance of us being caught." She replied almost proudly.  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "No Dawn! That's not what I meant. Did you use birth control?"  
  
"I guess so." She replied.  
  
"You guess so? What does that mean?"  
  
"I guess he used a. a thing." She told her.  
  
"A condom?" Cordelia supplied the word.  
  
"Yeah, I guess he used one."  
  
Cordelia closed her eyes. "He either used one or he didn't."  
  
"I don't know." She admitted.  
  
"Dawn, this is serious. You could have gotten pregnant or caught a sexually transmitted disease."  
  
"No, it was his first time too."  
  
"Dawn, are you sure? Because boys lie." She said bluntly.  
  
"I don't think he was lying, and anyway you can't get pregnant the first time."  
  
Cordelia flinched. "You can Dawn! Didn't you listen in Sex Ed?"  
  
"I missed that lesson." Dawn replied quietly. "Could I get pregnant?"  
  
"Yes Dawn, you need to speak to Buffy right now, okay? Then you can get a pregnancy test and work things out from there."  
  
"I don't want to be pregnant!" Dawn panicked. "I'd have to quit school and the team and I'd have to leave home because Buffy would be so angry with me and."  
  
"Dawn!" Cordelia interrupted. "Buffy would understand. Her first time wasn't exactly a hallmark occasion."  
  
"What?"  
  
Cordelia flinched. She probably shouldn't have said that. "When she slept with Angel, she turned him evil. Anyway, you need to talk to her." She hoped she's skipped over Buffy's first sexual encounter quick enough for Dawn to forget she'd mentioned it. It seemed to work.  
  
"So, she won't kill me?"  
  
Cordelia laughed. "She's your sister Dawn, and she loves you. You're allowed to screw up and she still has to love you, that is the rule."  
  
Dawn smiled. "I guess so, but can I ask you something else?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Is it supposed to hurt that much?"  
  
Cordelia took a deep breath before answering.  
  
"Dawn had sex." Cordelia told Faith as she put the phone down after explaining to Dawn the perils of first time sex.  
  
Faith nodded. "I heard."  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "That's not the worst part."  
  
"It's not?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then what is?"  
  
"She thinks she might be pregnant, or at least she does now."  
  
"She didn't use birth control?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"That is not 'wow'! This is a freaking big deal!" Cordelia exploded. "Buffy will freak!"  
  
"What did you tell her to do?"  
  
"Talk to Buffy."  
  
Faith laughed. "Good girl, let Buffy kill her before the baby is born!"  
  
Cordelia held up a finger. "This is not funny!"  
  
"One of us has to see the humour and I can see it's not going to be you." Faith replied with a grin. "Who's the guy?"  
  
"Some older boy who told her it was his first time and that she couldn't get pregnant the first time she did it!  
  
Faith pulled a face. "Scum! Why did she fall for it?"  
  
"All her friends told her they'd been having sex and I guess she believed them. She didn't want to be the only one not doing it."  
  
"Didn't you tell her that girls lie?"  
  
Cordelia stopped her pacing and turned to her. "Of course I did! I may be a married woman with two children but I can still remember my high school years!"  
  
Faith laughed at the look on Cordelia's face. "Maybe we should call Buffy and give her a little warning."  
  
"Can't do that." Cordelia shook her head.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I kind of happened to mention to Dawn the whole Buffy plus Angel equals evil Angel."  
  
"You didn't!" Faith grinned.  
  
"I was trying to make her feel better!"  
  
"You could have mentioned the whole Cordelia plus man equals demon pregnancy." She joked.  
  
"I told you that in confidence!" Cordelia sighed and sat down next to Faith at her desk. "I have to call her and at least give her a little warning."  
  
Faith shook her head. "Maybe you shouldn't."  
  
"I thought you said..?" Cordelia began.  
  
Faith held up her hands. "I know that, but hey, I say a lot of things."  
  
"That's true." Cordelia replied.  
  
"What are you two up to?" Wes asked, coming out of the office.  
  
"Nothing!" They replied guiltily.  
  
"Buffy, hi!" Cordelia said down the phone brightly. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm okay, a bit tired, how about you?"  
  
"I'm good too." She replied, obviously better than she would be in a minute. "I need to talk to you."  
  
"Okay, go on." Buffy replied, sensing the conversation was going to turn serious.  
  
"I need you to be completely trustworthy about this, I mean; you can't tell anyone or mention it until someone else tells you, okay?"  
  
"Okay." Buffy agreed. "I got a phone call the other day from a mutual acquaintance." She began, hoping it was sounding right. "And she's in a bit of trouble but she's scared to say anything because she thinks she's going to get shouted at or kicked out or killed, for instance."  
  
"Okay, can I ask who?"  
  
"Ask that when I've told you what trouble is." She advised, nibbling on a nail.  
  
"Okay." She agreed. "But I have to admit, you're scaring me a little."  
  
"I'm sorry; I'll get to the point." She promised. "Our mutual acquaintance has made a very silly mistake, and she knows it and she's sorry, and she's scared of what her friends and family are going to think because there are consequences to her mistake."  
  
"I'm sure it can't be that bad, I mean there was that time that Giles accidentally said the wrong word in a spell and we ended up with pigs running around the Magic Box."  
  
"Not the point right now Buffy." Cordelia told her nervously.  
  
"I'm sorry, go on."  
  
"She slept with someone that's not right for her and she admits that she made a mistake and now there is a chance that she could be pregnant." She paused, letting the news sink in.  
  
"Is this Faith we're talking about?"  
  
"No!" Cordelia reassured. "It's someone in Sunnydale."  
  
"Well, it can't be Willow or Tara because hello, gay, or Anya because she's with Xander and wouldn't cheat on him." Buffy thought for a moment. "I'm out, who?"  
  
"Dawn." Cordelia replied gently, but matter of fact. "It was Dawn."  
  
Buffy burst out laughing. "Boy Cor, you really got me there! I actually have tears running down my face!"  
  
"I'm serious Buffy, she called me yesterday. She's really scared and she knows she's made a mistake and she's scared to tell you, she also has no idea I'm talking to you so."  
  
"Dawnie? But she's only seventeen, she's practically a kid! How could she be pregnant?" She murmured, almost to herself. "She must have been playing a prank on you 'cause Dawn wouldn't be so stupid as to have sex with some guy she hasn't even told me about!"  
  
"Buffy, listen to me, you need to talk to her." Cordelia told her. "Be understanding, you remember what it was like to be sixteen."  
  
"You're really serious aren't you?" She asked. Cordelia nodded and then answered. "I am."  
  
"What do I do?"  
  
"Talk to her." She advised. "Play sister rather than mom."  
  
"I'll call you back."  
  
"Okay, good luck."  
  
She hung up the phone.  
  
"How did it go?" Faith asked.  
  
Cordelia shrugged. "I don't know. She didn't believe me at first, I think she does now though. She's gone to talk to Dawn."  
  
"Fireworks in the Summers' household." Faith commented dryly.  
  
"Why?" Wes asked, walking through.  
  
"They bought some." Faith lied bluntly.  
  
Cordelia turned to give her a strange look. "I don't even want to know what goes on in your head."  
  
"I gave up trying to break past her frosty interior." Wes commented and walked back out.  
  
"He loves me really." 


	3. Chapter Three

Buffy didn't call back that day or the next.  
  
"Maybe I should call her?" Cordelia suggested to Faith.  
  
"She said she'd call you." Faith pointed out.  
  
"I know that, but she hasn't. I have to admit, I'm kinda worried." She told her anxiously.  
  
"Buffy could have killed her and is hiding the body as we speak." Faith whispered.  
  
Cordelia rubbed her arms. "You just gave me goose bumps!"  
  
Faith laughed. "Why don't you call Willow?"  
  
"Sometimes, I do think there's a brain in there somewhere." She smiled and picked up the phone.  
  
Just as she did Connor started crying. "Could you..?"  
  
"I'm on it." Faith replied and went to get him.  
  
"Willow, hi it's Cordelia!" She spoke into the phone when it picked up.  
  
"Cordy hi!"  
  
"Uh, this is going to sound really weird but I'm going to say it anyway." She took a deep breath. "How are Dawn and Buffy?"  
  
"They're okay." She sounded puzzled.  
  
"Have you seen them?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Today?"  
  
"Uh, no, yesterday." She replied.  
  
"When yesterday?" She probed.  
  
"Morning, why?"  
  
"Look, I know this sounds very weird but I need you to go round there and check that they're okay."  
  
"What's all this about Cordy? You're starting to worry me!"  
  
"I'm sorry. Call it my spider sense. Can you just check on them and call me back?" She pleaded.  
  
"Yeah, okay, if it's that important."  
  
"It is, thank you." She hung up.  
  
Faith came back with Connor nestled in her arms. "She going to call you back?"  
  
Cordelia nodded. Faith offered her Connor but she waved her away. "While he's not crying he's all yours.  
  
Angel came down the stairs and kissed Cordelia's head. "Morning."  
  
"Afternoon." She replied.  
  
He looked at his watch and frowned. "Sometimes I have no idea where time goes."  
  
"You sleep it away." Faith told him helpfully, grinning from her perch on the counter.  
  
"Helpful Faith." He muttered grumpily, moving her legs so he could get in the fridge for some blood.  
  
"Ignore him." Cordelia advised. "He's still touchy from the other morning."  
  
"Angel baby, there's nothing to be ashamed about." She grinned. "It was all good."  
  
He pulled a face at her. "You sound smug now, but one of these days I'll get my own back."  
  
"Ooh, is that a threat?" She taunted.  
  
Cordelia rolled her eyes and went to pick up Ashleigh out of her bassinet where she was just starting to stir.  
  
"I don't make threats Faith." He told her.  
  
Cordelia snorted. "Yeah right."  
  
He turned to glare at her. "The bonds of marriage mean that you have to legally take my side in arguments."  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "Only when I think you're right."  
  
"You don't think. Never mind." He went to put his blood in the microwave.  
  
The phone started to ring and Cordelia grabbed it before anyone else could. Angel gave her a strange look but she just smiled at him. "Hello?"  
  
"Dawn's gone." Willow told her, not even saying hello.  
  
"What? Since when? Where to?" She exclaimed.  
  
"Yesterday and we don't know. Buffy is going out of her mind. Apparently something went down and Buffy freaked and Dawn took off. Spike and Xander are out looking for her." She told her breathlessly.  
  
"Do you want us to come down?"  
  
"Us?"  
  
"Me and Faith, she's been bugging me to go on vacation."  
  
"Oh yeah, coming to Sunnydale, big vacation." Willow joked lightly but to both of them it sounded lame.  
  
"We can come and take care of things for Buffy until dawn comes back."  
  
Faith was nodding her head vigorously while Angel was shaking his behind her.  
  
Faith saw Cordelia's eyes rise over her head and turned to swat Angel across the arm.  
  
"That would be great." Willow admitted. "I know Buffy won't be into the slaying right now and to be quite honest I don't fancy the job."  
  
"We'd be happy to." Cordelia promised. "When do you want us? Tonight?"  
  
"That sounds good."  
  
"Okay, see you tonight."  
  
Cordelia hung up the phone and turned to Angel. "I'm sorry baby, but they need someone to go down there."  
  
"Why you?"  
  
She stood up and went to put her arms around him. "Because I'm a big strong demon fighter who also happens to be a half demon."  
  
"And she's also dying to go check out the hotties in Sunnydale." Faith added.  
  
Cordelia turned and glared at her. "Buffy needs me. Us. Me."  
  
"Hey!" Faith objected.  
  
"Oh yeah, like you'll do anything to help."  
  
"I am a slayer too, in case you forgot."  
  
"How could I?"  
  
"I could kick your ass!"  
  
"Yeah right."  
  
She turned back to Angel. "Please baby? Let me go to the hell mouth."  
  
"That makes it sound worse." He warned but then relented and kissed her cheek gently. "Fine, but if you get killed then you have to come back as a ghost and explain to your children why you got killed."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Melodramatic much?"  
  
She turned to Faith and took Connor off her. "So, up for it Faith?"  
  
"I'm up for anything." She answered sweetly.  
  
"Yeah, we know." Cordelia replied over her shoulder as she went into the office to check on Ashleigh. "And anyone."  
  
"I hope not." Wes added as he came in through the front doors.  
  
"Come on Wes, you know I'm a one woman man." Faith told him.  
  
He leant down to kiss her head. "I had to see it to believe it."  
  
She swatted his backside as he walked past. "What have I missed?"  
  
"We're going on vacation." Faith announced.  
  
"We are?"  
  
"No, we are." She corrected, pointing at Cordelia.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Dawn's run away." Cordelia told him. "I told Willow that Faith and I would go down and take over the slaying for Buffy."  
  
"Rather you than me."  
  
"Did someone just say vacation?" Gunn asked as he and Fred came through the doors Wes had just come through.  
  
"Not for you." Faith told him.  
  
"Break my heart girl."  
  
"Ignore him." Fred told them. "He's just testy because he didn't get a bl."  
  
Gunn slapped a hand over her mouth. "Don't even go there."  
  
Faith grinned and raised her eyebrows at him suggestively.  
  
Cordelia laughed. "Okay, how about we advance from this riveting conversation topic and order Chinese?"  
  
"Faith, I swear if you do not turn that noise off right now then you will not live to see Sunnydale!" Cordelia shouted over the blasting music Faith had put on the radio. "And that is a threat!"  
  
Faith laughed and lazily turned the radio off with her big toe. "You need to chill C."  
  
"Don't call me that when I'm pissed at you Faith." Cordelia warned.  
  
"Why are you pissed? I didn't know you were pissed."  
  
"Faith, you have insisted on blaring totally incoherent music out of the speakers since we left LA. You've been tossing Mini Oreos at me for the past hour and now you insist on taking your shoes off, which I have to admit is not a good thing when your feet stink!"  
  
Faith laughed and slipped her shoes back on. "Better?"  
  
"For now." She replied grudgingly.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Faith asked in a childish voice.  
  
Cordelia looked at her in amazement and then burst out laughing. "I'm sorry; I just hate driving for such a long time."  
  
"Want me to take over?" She offered.  
  
"I'm under strict instructions not to let you anywhere near the wheel."  
  
"Big scary vamp is scared of me driving his car?"  
  
"In a word, yes."  
  
"I knew we should have taken Wes's car."  
  
"Yeah, but Wes's car is like Giles's old car, before he got the cool sports car." Cordelia complained.  
  
"I know, but he's old, what can I do?"  
  
"Strap a leash around his neck and drag him down to a car lot and make him buy a new car."  
  
"No, the lash thing didn't really work, handcuffs worked better." She told her breezily.  
  
Cordelia took her eyes off the wheel to look at Faith strangely. "Are you kidding? I never know when you're kidding."  
  
"I handcuffed him to his bed and ravished him. He liked it." She smiled. "Then again, I did."  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "You are unbelievable."  
  
"That's what he said." She joked. "Come on Cor, Fred's the prude; surely you and Angel have tried some sort of bondage?"  
  
She shook her head. "Not really. We tried the blindfolded thing once but we like to be able to see each other."  
  
"You don't know what you're missing; being dominated is such an intense feeling. Someone has power over you; they control everything that you feel. It blows you away."  
  
"We've done the whole public place thing. That was fun." Cordelia mused.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Uh, Hancock Park, outside the Hyperion, the graveyard in Sunnydale the last time we were in town."  
  
"I prefer the kids' playground."  
  
"The what? Faith, are you crazy?" She exclaimed.  
  
"It was at night." She defended herself. "The swings are a really good spot. You can get on it and start swinging and then you get him to stand just right so that every time you swing towards him you."  
  
"I would gladly let you take your shoes off again if you don't finish that sentence." Cordelia told her, interrupting her.  
  
Faith laughed. "Get Angel to try it, but by the size of him he could rip you in two."  
  
Cordelia groaned. "Faith!"  
  
"It's not that Wes is small, he's not, but Angel is really wide. Wes certainly knows how to work his though, round and round, up and down, in and out. Any way you can think of, he can do it, over and over again."  
  
"Faith, I swear, you have something in your brain that makes you unable to realise when you need to shut up."  
  
"I have no inhibitions."  
  
"Exactly." She concluded. "Now can we steer the conversation onto something less x-rated."  
  
"Like knitting and cooking?" She mocked.  
  
"If I let you drive will you shut up?" Cordelia begged.  
  
"That's all you had to say!"  
  
They pulled up outside the Summers' house an hour later. It should have taken another hour and a half but Faith drive like a madman.  
  
They climbed out of the car stiffly and grabbed their bags out of the back. They were going to be stopping at the mansion but they thought they'd be better off stopping in to see Buffy first before they got settled. And being the hell mouth, they took their bags inside with them.  
  
They went in without knocking. "Buffy?"  
  
Willow and Tara hurried out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "She's gone; she followed Xander and Spike out of town after you called this afternoon. I tried to call you to let you know but Wesley said you'd already set off."  
  
"Any news on where Dawn went?" Cordelia asked and slung her bag at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"The first thing we thought of was her dad but he hasn't heard from her." Tara explained. "Buffy and Dawn have relatives out West somewhere, that's where they're headed. Giles is calling round all the bus and train depots near here to see if she's been seen."  
  
"But they haven't come up with anything." Faith guessed correctly.  
  
Willow shook her head.  
  
Cordelia looked at her watch. "It looks like we've got enough time for a quick sweep before we head back to the mansion. We could come back early tomorrow?"  
  
Willow nodded. "That would be good. I could make waffles, you do like waffles?"  
  
"Waffles would be great." Faith smiled.  
  
Cordelia picked up her bag again and they went back to the car. "Poor Buffy."  
  
"It's Dawn I feel sorry for." Faith told her as Cordelia got behind the wheel of the car and started the engine. "Running scared."  
  
"It's tough being on your own." Cordelia replied, an edge of sadness in her voice. 


	4. Chapter Four

Cordelia picked up the phone and dialled the Hyperion's number.  
  
"Hi, we help the hopeless." Fred's voice said cheerfully into the phone.  
  
"Hey Fred, working late?"  
  
"Cordy hi, yeah. I'll get Angel for you; he's feeding Ashleigh in the office."  
  
A couple of minutes later Angel's voice came on the line. "Hey honey, are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine; I just wanted to let you know we got here okay."  
  
"How is Buffy?" He asked.  
  
"She took off with Spike and Xander trying to find Dawn. Faith and I went on a quick sweep round the graveyard and now we're back at the mansion." She told him and then yawned. "This big bed is very empty without you."  
  
"Cordelia, I am not having phone sex with you when everyone is in the next room." He told her in hushed tones.  
  
She laughed. "Fine. How are the children? Are they missing me?"  
  
"You've been gone about three and a half hours; you've left them for longer than that before."  
  
"I know, but they might be able to sense that I'm not in the same area code anymore."  
  
"They're fine." He reassured her. "Lorne is singing them to sleep as we speak."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Did you let faith drive my car?" He asked suspiciously.  
  
"No." She replied quickly. "Faith thinks we should try handcuffs."  
  
"You let her drive my. handcuffs?"  
  
"Yeah, apparently it's very intense." She purred.  
  
"For who?"  
  
"Whoever it is that is tied up."  
  
"And who would that be?"  
  
"We could take it in turns."  
  
"I'm up for that."  
  
"Literally?" She teased.  
  
He laughed. "Seriously, we can do some experimenting if you want."  
  
"I don't know, I don't want to turn into Faith. After all, I am a married woman."  
  
"Just because you're the little lady doesn't mean that we can't have a little bondage fun." He smirked, but she couldn't see it.  
  
"If you were here I'd show you a little bondage fun."  
  
"Horny?"  
  
"You have no idea." She groaned. "We must have killed four or five vamps, we worked ourselves up."  
  
"Don't go pouncing on Faith!" He sounded panicked.  
  
"Come on baby, I'm horny, not gay."  
  
He laughed. "Yeah, sorry."  
  
"It's okay." She yawned again. "I'm going to go, I'm sleepy. Call me tomorrow?"  
  
"I will, get a good night's sleep. I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
She put the phone down and turned off the light.  
  
It was morning before she woke up. She climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. As she passed by the bathroom she was surprised to see the light on.  
  
"Morning Faith." She called through the door.  
  
"Morning, I'll be out in a minute."  
  
"It's okay, take your time. Do you want coffee?"  
  
"No thanks."  
  
She heard the sound of retching. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." She repeated.  
  
Cordelia frowned but continued on to the kitchen to make coffee.  
  
Faith came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her neck, her hair damp.  
  
"How long have you been up?" Cordelia asked her, adding copious amounts of sugar to the sludgy black coffee.  
  
"About an hour. I took a shower and then I felt a bit sick, maybe I ate something that didn't agree with me."  
  
"You want to stop here today? They'd understand if you were ill." Cordelia told her.  
  
"No, I'll be fine." She smiled. "I'll go and get dressed and then we can go."  
  
"Uh Faith, unless you didn't notice I'm stood here in my pyjamas." She told her.  
  
Faith laughed. "Okay, then I'll go and get dressed and then sit and wait until you decide to get your ass in gear."  
  
Faith sauntered out of the kitchen, leaving Cordelia to smile after her.  
  
They spent the day calling up the local bus and rail depots that they hadn't already contacted, to see if any of them had seen Dawn.  
  
Buffy called around lunchtime saying she, Xander and Spike were following the trail of a young woman with long brown hair to the Florida area.  
  
"But why would Dawn go to Florida?" Willow had asked.  
  
"Maybe because it's on the opposite coast to Sunnydale, and therefore Buffy." Tara had answered reasonably.  
  
Cordelia and Faith had left just after sundown to patrol. They'd dusted four vamps in the first eleven cemeteries; they were onto the last just after eleven thirty.  
  
"Long night." Faith commented.  
  
"I second that." Cordelia agreed, swinging her bag in her hand.  
  
"There used to be a time when I'd go out clubbing after I patrolled. Now all I want to do is go to bed." She laughed.  
  
"It's called getting old Faith, it's happened to all of us."  
  
"Not those." Faith pointed to a group of people further into the cemetery.  
  
"I don't think they thrive on sunlight." Cordelia agreed and grabbed a stake out of her bag. "Let's go."  
  
"Hey boys, looking for a party?" Faith called out.  
  
Cordelia snorted. "Oh yeah, that was subtle."  
  
Faith laughed.  
  
The vampires turned around to see who had shouted. "Hey, pretty ladies."  
  
"Hey, ugly un-dead." Faith shouted back.  
  
They growled and stepped closer.  
  
"Okay, you take the two on the left; I'll take the two on the right." Cordelia told her, splitting up.  
  
"I've got your back."  
  
Cordelia moved in with a high kick to one of the vamps and then a punch in the face to the other, sending it stumbled backwards and onto the floor. She took that moment to glance over at Faith and checked that she was holding her own, which she was. She was busy pummelling one of the vamps while the other one was trying to disentangle himself from the vampire Cordelia had sent tumbling to the ground.  
  
Cordelia pinned the vampire she was fighting against the wall and sank the stake into his chest. The dust exploded over her and she coughed as it went into her mouth.  
  
Faith let out a shriek and Cordelia spun.  
  
"Faith!" She shouted, alarmed and ran to where Faith had been thrown against a mausoleum. "Are you okay?"  
  
She nodded but she was breathless and she had pain etched across her face.  
  
Cordelia felt a sharp tug to her hair and was dragged backwards. There were two vampires left; Faith must have dusted one of hers.  
  
"Great." She muttered and started to fight the two remaining vamps.  
  
She managed to get a good few punches in before one of them caught her with a right hook to her cheek. "Bastard!"  
  
She slammed the stake into one of their chests and the other, sensing his eminent death, took off.  
  
She hurried back to Faith. "Are you okay? Anything broken?"  
  
She shook her head and tried to stand up.  
  
"Here, give me your hand." Cordelia instructed and gave her hand to Faith. "Are you sure you want to stand up?"  
  
She nodded. "I want to go home."  
  
Cordelia nodded and helped Faith to her feet, keeping an arm around her and one under her elbow to keep her upright.  
  
"Come on Faith, that's it, nice and easy." She encouraged. "We're near home."  
  
Faith's face was contorted with pain and she was struggling to walk. She must have gone with a blow, Cordelia thought, but she was a slayer so shouldn't she be okay?  
  
"That's it Faith." Cordelia told her as she lay her down on her bed. "Do you want me to get you out of those clothes? Into something more comfortable?"  
  
She shook her head. "Just let me sleep, okay?"  
  
Cordelia nodded. "Okay, but shout if you need me, okay?"  
  
She nodded so Cordelia turned off the light and left the room.  
  
She went into her own room and called Angel.  
  
He picked up on the second ring.  
  
"Hey, I miss you." She told him.  
  
"I miss you too." He told her back. "Having any luck finding Dawn?"  
  
"No, Buffy called and said that she thinks Dawn is on her way to Florida of all places so they're heading that way. How are the kids?" She rubbed her eyes and they winced as she felt the beginnings of a bruise on her left cheek.  
  
"What was that? You made your pain noise." He told her.  
  
She laughed softly. "I've got a bruise on my cheek. Faith and I had a nasty encounter with four vampires. I'm more worried about her though, she's in bed. I had to half carry her home."  
  
"But Faith's a slayer, she should be okay."  
  
"That's what I thought, but she insists I leave her alone. I'll check on her before I go to sleep. How are the children?" She asked again.  
  
"They're fine. Fred took Connor to the park this morning and he was playing in the sandpit with a little girl." He told her with a smile. "Fred said she thought they were in love."  
  
She laughed. "I wish I could have seen it."  
  
"Are you ready for bed?"  
  
"Not yet, but I will be when I get off the phone." She found herself yawning, despite herself. "How about you?"  
  
"No, I've got a good few hours ahead of me. Gunn and Fred went out on a case a couple of hours ago so they'll be back soon and I should get some paperwork done before I go to bed. Wes has been holed up in his office all day researching God knows what but Lorne has been looking after the kids for me tonight so I could get some work done." He explained.  
  
"I can't wait to come home." She told him. "And see you again."  
  
"I know, me neither baby. It won't be long now." He told her. "I love you, go get some sleep."  
  
"I will, and I love you too."  
  
She dropped the phone back into it's cradle and then went downstairs to get a glass of water.  
  
When she came back upstairs she heard strange noises coming from Faith's room.  
  
She opened the door and turned the light on. "Faith?"  
  
She saw the slayer curled up in the bed clutching her stomach and crying.  
  
"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked and fell to her knees next to Faith.  
  
Her face was contorted in pain. "Faith?"  
  
"I'm bleeding." She admitted.  
  
"Where?" Cordelia asked, scanning her body for injury.  
  
Faith looked her in the eyes. "I'm bleeding. Woman bleeding."  
  
Cordelia's eyes widened in realisation. "Why? Do you know why?"  
  
She nodded and blinked back tears. "I'm pregnant." She gasped in pain.  
  
"You're pregnant?"  
  
She nodded and hid her face. "I didn't want to tell anyone just yet, until I was sure. I took the test a couple of weeks ago. I'm about eight weeks gone."  
  
Cordelia smoothed back her hair. "If you're bleeding we need to get you to a hospital."  
  
She shook her head. "I can't, I want to stay here."  
  
"You can't honey, it could be dangerous for you and the baby." Cordelia told her. "You need a hospital."  
  
She shook her head. "It's too late."  
  
"How long have you been bleeding?"  
  
"Since we got back." She admitted and raised her tear stained face.  
  
"Faith, that was a half hour ago!"  
  
"I know, at first I thought it would stop but then it didn't and then I was too scared to move in case it made it worse."  
  
"You should have called me." Cordelia scolded gently.  
  
"I was too scared." She cried.  
  
"Of what?"  
  
"That maybe it was just a nightmare and calling you would make it real."  
  
"It is real honey." She soothed. "But I'm here now, I'll look after you."  
  
"Cor?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Please don't leave me." She begged.  
  
"I won't, I promise. But we need to get you out of those clothes."  
  
"Take deep breaths." Cordelia advised and went to grab towels from the bathroom. "Do you want me to call Wes? Does he know?"  
  
She shook her head and clutched at Cordelia's hand. "I didn't know what he'd say so I didn't tell him. He might have been mad."  
  
"Are you kidding me? Wes would love kids, have you seen him with Connor?"  
  
"I guess it doesn't matter now." She murmured as another wave of pain came over her.  
  
"Faith, I'm not so sure we should stay here alone." Cordelia worried. "A hospital would be better."  
  
She shook her head, adamant. "No, hospitals are for sick people."  
  
Cordelia nodded. "Okay, take deep breaths."  
  
"How long can this last?" She gasped.  
  
"Labour can last anything up to forty eight hours." Cordelia told her gently and started stripping of her of her jeans and underwear, covering her with a towel.  
  
Faith looked panicked. "But I'm sure it won't."  
  
"I really wanted this baby, you know?" She told Cordelia. "I never really had anything to look after before, no pet or sister or anything. And at first I was really worried and scared and like, what the hell am I doing, I can't look after a baby. But then I started to feel really maternal, like I could look after it. And love it. And maybe Wes would be a good dad, or I would be a good mom."  
  
"You'd be a great mom." Cordelia smiled, smoothing back Faith's hair.  
  
"You mean it?" She looked hopeful.  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
She gasped again. "It feels like I want to push."  
  
"Then push honey, it'll be okay."  
  
"It'll never be okay." She grunted with effort. "Not if I lose this baby."  
  
Cordelia feared that that was what was happening. "Just breathe." She urged.  
  
"I am breathing!" She snapped. "See, air in and out!"  
  
Cordelia stayed quiet and just mopped Faith's forehead with the sleeve of her shirt.  
  
"Do you think Wes would have been a good dad?" She asked between pains.  
  
Cordelia nodded, fighting back tears. "He'd have been a great dad. He'd have bought little football shirts from all those English teams he likes so much."  
  
"Even if it was a girl?"  
  
She nodded. "Especially if it was a girl."  
  
"He'd have looked after us both wouldn't he?"  
  
The desperation in her voice sent the tears in Cordelia's eyes down her cheeks. She nodded, unable to speak.  
  
Faith sensed, rather than saw her friend's upset. "I'm losing it aren't I?"  
  
Cordelia decided the truth would be better and nodded. "Yeah, I think you are."  
  
Tears began to escape from her eyes. "I didn't want this to happen."  
  
"I know you didn't. But maybe if you push through the pain it will go away quicker." She suggested, tightening her grip on Faith's hand.  
  
She nodded and began to push.  
  
Cordelia shuffled down the bed and knelt between Faith's legs. "I need to see, I'm going to lift the towel, okay?"  
  
Faith nodded, too engrossed in trying to push through the pain to talk.  
  
Cordelia lifted the towel and it was only then that she saw how much blood she was losing.  
  
"I'm going to grab some more towels from the bathroom." She told her and jumped off the bed.  
  
"Don't leave me!" She cried, clutching for Cordelia's hand.  
  
"I'll only be a second." She promised. "I need to stop the blood."  
  
She hurried into the bathroom and grabbed a handful of clean towels.  
  
She sat back down at the end of the bed and began mopping at the blood that was flowing from Faith.  
  
"It'll all be over soon Faith, I promise." She murmured, squeezing her knee. 


	5. Chapter Five

Two and a half hellish hours later it was over.  
  
Faith was deadly white from blood loss and very weak.  
  
Cordelia had cleaned her up and wrapped the foetus in clean towels and kept it out of her view.  
  
When she was satisfied that she was clean and comfortable she sat down on the bed in her own room and picked up the phone.  
  
She dialled the hotel's number with trembling fingers.  
  
Angel picked up. "Hi baby." She whispered.  
  
"Cor? Hi honey, are you okay?" He sounded concerned. "Is Faith okay?"  
  
She nodded, swallowing tears, and then answered. "I'm okay. I need you to put Wes on, is he still there?"  
  
"Yeah, do you want to talk?"  
  
"No, not yet, just let me talk to Wes okay? I love you."  
  
"I love you too. I'll go get him for you."  
  
She waited while she heard the phone being picked up again and Wes's calm voice was heard. "Wes?"  
  
Without meaning to she broke down in tears at his voice. "Cordelia? Are you alright? What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"  
  
She shook her head and then realised he couldn't see her. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's Faith."  
  
"F-Faith? Is she..? Is she okay?"  
  
"No." She took a deep breath. "We were in the cemetery fighting a group of vamps. I turned and she was on the floor. I brought her home and called Angel. When I got off the phone she was on the bed crying and bleeding. That was about three hours ago. she was pregnant Wes. She lost it."  
  
Wes was stunned into silence.  
  
"She didn't tell you because she wasn't sure what you would feel." She continued. "I think she'll want you here. She's asleep now but I think she'd like you to be here when she wakes up."  
  
"I can do that." His voice was quiet and withdrawn.  
  
"You'll set off now? Get Angel to drive your car, you're in no fit state." She told him.  
  
"Okay." He hung up, leaving her listening to the dialling tone.  
  
Cordelia put the phone back in its cradle then dropped her head in her hands and cried.  
  
When she went back into her room she saw her clothes and body were covered in blood.  
  
She started to pull her shirt over her head but she could hear Faith crying so she decided that making sure she was alright was more important.  
  
She went back into Faith's room and her heart lurched as she saw Faith curled up in a ball sobbing into the blankets she was clutching under her chin.  
  
She sat down next to her and pushed her damp hair out of her eyes.  
  
"Are you in any pain?" She asked.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"I can get you some painkillers." She offered.  
  
"No, I can handle it." She told her and then broke down in tears again. "I'm good with pain."  
  
"Good in your line of work." Cordelia smiled lightly.  
  
She shrugged. "I guess."  
  
They sat in silence for a few moments.  
  
"Do you want to get some sleep? I could leave you."  
  
"No!" She interrupted. "I don't want to be on my own."  
  
She nodded and smiled. "It's okay, I can stay."  
  
She leant back against the wall and gradually Faith's head made its way onto her lap.  
  
Cordelia stroked her hair gently. "It will be okay eventually Faith, I promise."  
  
"I just feel so empty."  
  
Angel drove like a madman all the way to Sunnydale with Wes anxiously looking at his watch every couple of minutes.  
  
They made it in a little over two hours and Wes was out of the car the moment it pulled up outside the mansion.  
  
They found the door locked so they were forced to knock and wait.  
  
Cordelia, hearing them, untangled herself from Faith's, now sleeping, form.  
  
She hurried down the stairs and flung the door open.  
  
"How is she?" Wes instantly asked, his eyes travelling to Cordelia's blood covered body.  
  
She took a deep breath. "She's sleeping now."  
  
She reached out to hug him. "Was it very awful?"  
  
She nodded, meeting Angel's eyes over Wes's shoulder.  
  
"I want to go see her." He told her, pulling back.  
  
She nodded. "She's in the room on the end."  
  
He nodded and headed for the stairs.  
  
Angel came through the door and shut it behind him. "Is she really okay?"  
  
She shrugged, folding her arms across her blood covered shirt. "I don't know."  
  
Angel reached out to touch her cheek and then it was all too much for her, she broke down in tears as Angel's arms came around her body.  
  
Wes stepped into the room and felt tears prick his eyes. She was normally so strong and confident, but now she looked so small and scared.  
  
He went over to the bed and noted how pale she looked.  
  
He sat down and stroked her hand. "God Faith, you should have told me."  
  
Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of his voice. "Wes?"  
  
He nodded and smiled. "Yes."  
  
"Cordelia called you huh?"  
  
He nodded again. "I am so sorry Faith."  
  
"You didn't do anything."  
  
"I'm sorry for what happened." He clarified. "You should have told me."  
  
"I'm sorry." She whispered.  
  
"It's okay." He smiled and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "God, when Cordy called I was so scared for you. She said it was really bad."  
  
She nodded and a tear slipped down her cheek. "It was."  
  
"How long have you known?" He asked.  
  
"A few weeks." She admitted.  
  
"I wish you'd told me."  
  
She nodded. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't worry about that now." He shushed her. "There's plenty of time to talk. You look really pale, you should sleep."  
  
She nodded again. "Stay?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Angel guided Cordelia into their room and insisted on getting her out of the bloody clothes and into the bath.  
  
He ran the bath first and then pulled her ruined shirt over her head, leaving her bare except from the stained white bra.  
  
"God, look at you." He murmured, unbuttoning her jeans and slipping them off her.  
  
"Faith was worse." She told him, taking off her bra and thong.  
  
He held her hand as she stepped into the tub and sat down.  
  
He pulled up a chair and sat next to her. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Me? I'm fine, it's not like I've been through what she has."  
  
"Yeah, but you've been through something too."  
  
"I guess." She murmured. "She was so scared you know? You don't think that Faith can be scared, she's always so strong. But tonight she was so scared. I was too. There was so much blood and the baby was so tiny, not really a baby at all. I didn't know what do, I just kept talking to her and encouraging her but I wasn't sure that that was enough. She wouldn't let me take her to the hospital so I guess it must have been."  
  
He picked up a sponge and began to wash the dried blood off her skin. "You know Faith, she does what she wants. If she'd wanted to go to hospital she would have."  
  
"You know she was scared of what Wes would think? She thought he'd be mad at her."  
  
"I could see Wes as a dad."  
  
"That's what I kept telling her." She whispered.  
  
He touched her arm. "You're shivering. You cold?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"Lean forward and I'll wash your back then you can get out."  
  
She leant forwards and wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin on them.  
  
He began to soap her back gently, washing away the sweat that had formed.  
  
"You're tense." He told her. "But I guess that's understandable."  
  
"I don't know it I could have done what she did." She told him, cocking her head to the side so she could look at him. "She knew she was losing the baby and she still struggled through it. I don't think I could have done that."  
  
"You might not think you would have but you would." He smiled and stroked her wet hair. "You're stronger than you think."  
  
"I'm not so sure."  
  
"Come on, let's get you out of the tub, you're cold." He put an arm around her and lifted her up.  
  
"It feels good to get the blood off, I was all sticky." She told him as he enveloped her in a towel.  
  
He started rubbing her skin to dry her off and then wrapped her in her thick robe. He touched her cheek gently with his fingertips. "You've got a pretty good shiner there."  
  
"I forgot to duck." She shrugged.  
  
"It's okay, it'll be gone soon." He put an arm around her and began walking her into the bathroom.  
  
"All I keep thinking is poor Faith. And Wes." She murmured as he sat her in front of the mirror.  
  
Angel picked up her hair brush and began untangling her hair. "It's understandable. It's a horrible thing for anyone to go through."  
  
"It was horrible." She admitted and then yawned.  
  
He looked at his watch. "It's five o clock, the sun will be up soon."  
  
"I haven't been bed yet." She told him.  
  
"Let me finish with your hair and then we'll get you in bed." He promised.  
  
"I should check if Faith needs anything."  
  
"Wes'll let you know if she needs anything. Or he'll get it. Right now you need to look after yourself. Get some sleep."  
  
He put the brush down on the dressing table and held out his hand for her to hold, which she did. He pulled her up and led her to the bed where he un- tucked the covers and then re-tucked them when she was inside.  
  
He kissed her forehead. "Get some sleep."  
  
"Where are you going?" She asked.  
  
"I'll go and bury the body." He told her grimly.  
  
"Thanks." She told him. "I didn't fancy doing it."  
  
"Where did you leave it?"  
  
"I wrapped it in towels and left it in the kitchen." She told him and then started to cry. "God, how bad does that sound? I wrapped Faith's baby in towels and left it alone in the kitchen."  
  
He sat down on the bed and took her in his arms. "Shh honey, you'll make yourself ill."  
  
"But a baby should be held and loved and fed, not left in a kitchen."  
  
"But it died Cordelia; there was nothing you could do to save it. You did what had to be done. And no, you shouldn't leave a baby on it's own but it isn't alive. It's wrong and unfair and cruel but maybe it wasn't the right time for it to live. You looked after it by wrapping it up and keeping it warm and I'm sure that wherever its soul is now it's glad that you did that."  
  
His words sank in and she realised that he was right. "It doesn't make it fair though."  
  
"I know that. But look what happens in life, nothing is really fair."  
  
"I guess."  
  
He lowered her back onto the bed and wiped the tears off her face. "Now, get some sleep. I'll be back before the sun rises."  
  
She nodded but her eyes were already closing. "I love you." She whispered and then she fell asleep.  
  
It was lunch time when she woke and she silently cursed Angel for not waking her earlier. His spot next to her on the bed was empty so she got out of the bed and straightened her robe.  
  
She went downstairs first, rather than go in Faith's room. Angel and Wes were sat at the table in the kitchen.  
  
She smiled and sat down at the spare seat. She put a hand on Wes's arm. "How is she?"  
  
"She's sleeping now, finally."  
  
"Is she dealing?" She accepted the coffee Angel shoved across the table to her.  
  
"She spent most of the time just crying or staring into space but we talked a little and she finally fell asleep."  
  
"Did you sleep?"  
  
He shook her head.  
  
"Maybe you should try." She suggested. "We're both awake to keep checking on her."  
  
"Thank you Cordelia, but I don't think I could even if I wanted to." He smiled gently but it was mostly out of politeness, it didn't meet his eyes.  
  
"Okay." She smiled. "I'd better call Willow and tell her I'll be stopping here today."  
  
"It's okay, I already called." Angel told her and placed a hand on her knee under the table. "I didn't give any details but she knows you won't be coming around today."  
  
She nodded. "Thanks. How about some food Wes? You hungry?"  
  
"It's okay Cordelia; you don't have to bribe me into feeling better with inedible food." He told her, not unkindly. "Besides, Angel made me eggs just before you got up."  
  
She nodded. "I just feel pretty useless. There's nothing I can do."  
  
"Cordy, if you hadn't have done what you did yesterday Faith might not be here today. I know that you tried to get her to a hospital but Faith is stubborn, she wouldn't have gone. If you hadn't taken care of her then she would have died. You've done quite enough and when I feel like I can talk about this without crying then I will thank you properly." He squeezed her hand and then left the kitchen. His footsteps could be heard climbing the stairs.  
  
She felt Angel touch her shoulder. "Are you okay?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, I feel better knowing that I'm not just sitting here useless."  
  
"You could never be useless. You remember what Fred called you, she called you the heart. We wouldn't survive without you holding us together." He told her softly.  
  
"You have to say that, you're my husband." She smiled and leaned into his chest. "But feel free to keep going."  
  
He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Do you fancy some eggs? I could make some more."  
  
She nodded. "That would be nice."  
  
Faith lifted her head from the pillow stiffly and looked around the darkened room. Wes was asleep next to her, his chest moving up and down.  
  
She climbed out of bed, wincing at the pain she still felt.  
  
She opened the bedroom door and went into the bathroom opposite.  
  
"God, look at me." She told her reflection in the mirror.  
  
Her hair was a tangled mess and her face was deathly white. Her eyes had red rimmed and bloodshot.  
  
She turned on the shower and waited while the water warmed up before she climbed in. the water felt good on her clammy skin.  
  
The stickiness left on her thighs soon disappeared as she cleaned the blood off her with Cordelia's scented soap.  
  
She let the water rain down on her face, cleaning away the sweat and tear stains.  
  
When she was satisfied she was clean again she turned off the taps and stepped out, wrapping her body in a towel.  
  
Looking in the mirror again she saw she looked a little better. The hot water had put a little colour on her cheeks and removed the tear tracks.  
  
She opened the bathroom door and stumbled straight into Cordelia.  
  
"Hey." Cordelia smiled. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Not as sore, still as dead inside." She told her.  
  
Cordelia nodded. "That's understandable. Do you want something to drink or something to eat?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, I'm fine."  
  
"Okay, if you do need anything though, please call me." She half begged.  
  
Faith smiled. "Cordelia, you can't possible do more than you already have."  
  
"I feel useless." She admitted.  
  
"Don't, you were unbelievable last night. If you hadn't been there then I don't know what I'd have done. Probably died. And I really want to thank you because I know it was an awful thing that happened but I'm glad you got me through it."  
  
"Faith, you know I'm always here for you? You're my best friend. If there is anything you need please ask me." She told her and squeezed her hand.  
  
"I will, I promise." She kept hold of her hand. "You know what I really would like? To get out of here. I need some fresh air but I don't really want to go out on my own."  
  
"Sure, we could take a walk to the coffee shop?" She suggested.  
  
She nodded. "That would be great."  
  
"Okay, I could meet you downstairs in five minutes?"  
  
"Yeah." 


	6. Chapter Six

Wesley woke up and jumped when he saw Faith's side of the bed was empty. He sprung off the bed and hurried down the stairs.  
  
"Where is she?" He asked Angel, who was sat in the living room reading a book.  
  
"Calm down Wes, she went for a walk with Cordy." He told him, snapping his book shut.  
  
"Where to?"  
  
"The coffee shop I think, she wanted to get some fresh air."  
  
"I knew I shouldn't have gone to sleep." Wes said angrily.  
  
"She seemed okay." Angel told him. "She looked a little pale but Cordelia will look after her. It will probably be good for her to get out of here. Fresh air might do her good."  
  
"She should have woken me; I'd have gone with her."  
  
"She'll be okay with Cordelia." Angel reassured.  
  
"I know, but I would have gone with her."  
  
"She told me you were sleeping and that she didn't want to wake you." Angel explained.  
  
"Well, she should have." Wes insisted. "Did she say how long she'd be? How long ago did she leave?"  
  
"They've been gone about half an hour. They didn't say how long they'd be. But they've only gone for a walk. If Faith feels ill or gets tired I'm sure they'll come back."  
  
Wes nodded. "I guess so."  
  
"Let her do what she wants right now Wes." Angel advised. "Don't make her feel trapped."  
  
"Do you feel better now?" Cordelia asked Faith as they walked down Main Street drinking coffee.  
  
"Yeah, the fresh air has done me good."  
  
"I still think you'd be better off in bed, Wes is probably going crazy." Cordelia warned her.  
  
"I'll handle Wes." She said confidently. "Besides, what is he going to do? Shout at me in my weakened state?"  
  
Cordelia laughed. "I guess not. Do you feel okay mentally? I mean, you don't feel like you're going to break down?"  
  
She shook her head. "You know me; I got all my crying out last night. I'll be okay now. And even though I feel really bad I know it'll be okay, there'll be another chance for me to have a baby. Later on when it's planned."  
  
"Angel buried the body last night in the garden. He burnt his hand putting a cross there. He made it a proper grave. We could stop for some flowers to put on top."  
  
Faith smiled. "That was really kind of him. I'd like that."  
  
Cordelia choked on her coffee. "Oh my God."  
  
Faith looked at her strangely. "What the hell was that?"  
  
"Is that Dawn?" She pointed to a girl walking a couple of metres ahead of them.  
  
"I don't know, maybe. But isn't Dawn halfway to Florida?"  
  
"Apparently. Dawn!"  
  
The girl spun around automatically and saw them. It was Dawn. She turned back around and started walking faster.  
  
"Dawn! Get your skinny ass back here right now and start explaining yourself!" Cordelia shouted angrily.  
  
Realising she'd been caught out Dawn turned back. "Cordy, hi!"  
  
"Don't try that." Faith advised. "Not going to work."  
  
"Where the hell have you been?" Cordelia hissed. "Taking off was really not a good thing to do. Where have you been?"  
  
"I was staying with a friend until Buffy calmed down." She told them. "She really freaked out."  
  
"Do you have any idea where your sister is?" Cordelia asked quietly.  
  
Dawn looked at her watch. "Probably at the school, she's a counsellor there now, did you know that?"  
  
"No I didn't and no she isn't!" Cordelia shouted. "She is halfway to Florida looking for you!"  
  
"What? But I'm not in Florida!"  
  
"We can see that." Faith added. "But Buffy doesn't."  
  
"Why does she think I'm in Florida?"  
  
"You have had everybody so worried about you that they've been following up on any lead they can get. The last one they got was of a young girl travelling alone on a bus Florida! So, Buffy, Spike and Xander are on their way there because they care about you and want to find you! Have you any idea how much trouble you have caused?"  
  
She shuffled her feet. "I didn't think it would be that much of a big deal. I mean, Buffy ran off to LA that time she killed Angel. But there is something good about all this."  
  
"There is?" Cordelia asked mockingly happy. "I'm failing to see it."  
  
"I'm not pregnant." She told them happily.  
  
"Well, now at least Buffy only has to kill you once." Faith told her. She looked at her watch. "We'd better be getting back, Wes will be freaking out."  
  
Cordelia nodded. "Can we trust you to go back to your house? Willow and Tara are there."  
  
She nodded. "I can find my way back to my house."  
  
"That's not what I meant Dawn." Cordelia warned.  
  
"I know, I know!" She held up her hands in mock defence. "I'm going."  
  
They stood and watched Dawn stomp off in the direction of her house.  
  
"Let's go get those flowers." Cordelia told Faith and took her arm, nudging her into the direction of the flower shop.  
  
Cordelia left Faith at the newly formed grave and went into the mansion, slipping in the front door quietly.  
  
"Where is she?" Wes asked, springing up as soon as he heard the door open.  
  
"She's outside." She told him gently. "We bought flowers to put on the grave."  
  
He nodded. "Should I go out there?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, go be with her."  
  
He touched her shoulder as he went past her.  
  
Angel was leaning against the kitchen doorframe. "Hey."  
  
She smiled and went to put her arms around his waist, sighing as his went around her shoulders. "We found Dawn. She's been in Sunnydale this whole time."  
  
"Did she have anything to say?"  
  
"Well, she's not pregnant so that's good. Buffy might not kill her as much when she gets back from her wild goose chase."  
  
"She's not what? Back up there a minute. Pregnant?"  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that part." She told him sheepishly. "She thought she was pregnant, that's why she took off. She called and told me she'd slept with some asshole and that she thought she might have gotten pregnant. I told her to tell Buffy, Buffy shouted and Dawn ran away. She's been at her friend's house all along."  
  
"I was wondering why Dawn took off but I kept forgetting to ask you when you called. Wow, pregnant, there must be something in the water."  
  
She laughed and leant up to kiss him. "I'm not pregnant."  
  
"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Oh well."  
  
"Is that good or bad?" She asked curiously.  
  
"I don't know." He admitted. "Having another baby could be good, but having Ashleigh together was a miracle, having another baby is practically impossible. But if it did happen then I wouldn't be unhappy."  
  
"That's good to know." She smiled.  
  
He looked at her strangely. "Are you?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, I'm not. But one day maybe I'd like to be again."  
  
He kissed her lips gently. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
Faith and Wes came in hand in hand. Wes's eyes were slightly red rimmed but Faith looked composed and at peace.  
  
"I've been thinking." Cordelia told them.  
  
"Duck." Faith joked lightly.  
  
Cordelia smiled. "Very funny. Do you guys want to stop here on your own for a while? Angel and I want to get back to the children but there are two cars here now so you two could stop for a few days, spend some time on your own."  
  
They looked at each other and Wes answered. "That sounds like a very good idea. Thank you."  
  
"I'll go see Dawn and Willow tomorrow and then we'll go home when the sun sets." Cordelia told them. "But right now I'm hungry so Angel, take me out for dinner?"  
  
"Sure." He agreed. "In a good couple of hours when the sun sets."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Of course, my meal plan has to coincide with the sun's movements. You can cook, and not eggs."  
  
She dragged him into the kitchen where he proceeded to cook her beans on toast.  
  
Cordelia went around to Buffy's house the following afternoon.  
  
Willow and Tara were sat in the kitchen with cups of strong coffee.  
  
"Hey Cordelia." Willow smiled. "I guess we owe you a thank you."  
  
She waved her hand. "No you don't. Where is she?"  
  
"Upstairs." Tara answered. "Where she'll stay until Buffy comes back."  
  
"Which will be?"  
  
"Tomorrow or the day after." Willow told her and got up to pour Cordelia a cup of coffee.  
  
"It's probably a good thing that I'm getting out of Sunnydale tonight then. Out of the way of the fireworks."  
  
"Are you going home?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"What happened yesterday?" Tara asked.  
  
"It was something to do with Faith, nothing big. She wasn't too well so I stayed at home to look after her. Wes and Angel came through yesterday morning and Angel is going to drive me home. Wes is going to stop with Faith a few days in the mansion until she gets better." Cordelia exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, is she okay?" Willow asked, concerned.  
  
"Yeah, she's fine, just a bit weak."  
  
"Who's a bit weak?" Giles asked, coming in the back door. "Oh, hello Cordelia, good to see you. How are the children?"  
  
"They're fine; they're at home with Lorne, Fred and Gunn." She smiled. "How are you?"  
  
"Oh, I'm quite alright thank you. Where is the prodigal?" He inquired.  
  
Both Willow and Tara pointed to the ceiling. "We banished her to her room."  
  
"Quite suitable if you ask me, might I go speak to her?"  
  
"Feel free." Willow told him. "Tea?"  
  
"No thank you Willow, I'll just go and talk to her."  
  
"Somehow I think with all English-ness of his voice, he'll get through to her more than Buffy and her shouting will." Cordelia smirked.  
  
"I don't know, when I called Buffy's cell she sounded pissed off." Willow confided. "Xander had to take the phone off her to stop her swearing."  
  
Cordelia laughed. "There's definitely going to be fireworks. That reminds me, where's Anya?"  
  
"Oh, she's running the Magic Box. Business has picked up because it's nearer to Halloween. She wanted to go with Xander and look for Dawn, or rather go on road trip, but Giles needed her to look after the store for him." Willow explained. "She's not complaining though, she likes to touch the money."  
  
Cordelia laughed again. "Faith is like that with the cheques we get."  
  
"Do you want to stop for lunch?" Tara asked. "We're only having tuna salads but there's plenty for you if you want some."  
  
"That sounds really nice, thanks." She smiled.  
  
They heard the sound of shouting voices from upstairs and they cringed, Dawn was getting it from Giles.  
  
Cordelia arrived back at the mansion before sun down and went straight upstairs to pack her bag.  
  
She left all of her toiletries in the bathroom for Faith to use and moved the blanket off their bed onto Faith and Wes's, their room was colder.  
  
She lifted her bag off the bed and carried it down the stairs ready to put in the car.  
  
The sun set a half hour later so Angel went and put their bags in the car while she said goodbye to Faith.  
  
"You can call me anytime you want. Angel pays the phone bill when it comes in so feel free to bump it up a bit."  
  
Faith smiled. "Thanks Cor."  
  
"You take good care you of yourself, yeah? Let Wesley pamper you." Cordelia ordered.  
  
She nodded. "Thanks for everything Cor, you've been fantastic."  
  
She smiled and hugged her. "See you when you get home."  
  
She let go of her and went to say goodbye to Wes. "Take good care of her Wes."  
  
"You don't have to worry about that." He told her with a smile and then hugged her. "Thank you Cordelia."  
  
She sensed he was about to get emotional so she pulled back. "Hey, she's a tough girl. She'll be fine. And so will you."  
  
He nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I will thank you properly eventually."  
  
"Seeing her well is the only thanks I need."  
  
He squeezed her shoulder. "Make sure you drive carefully."  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not driving." She reassured.  
  
"Oh good."  
  
"Hey!" 


	7. Chapter Seven

Cordelia made herself comfortable in the front seat with her head on Angel's right leg.  
  
"I like driving at night." She told him.  
  
"You're not driving."  
  
"That's just a technicality. You can see all the stars and the moon." She mused. "It's really pretty."  
  
"You appreciate it a lot more if you can't see the sun in the day. You can spend hours at night looking up. Just because you can." He glanced down at her. "If you want, go to sleep."  
  
She shook her head. "I'd rather talk to you."  
  
"What do you want to talk about?"  
  
"Anything." She replied lazily. "Entertain me."  
  
He laughed. "Honey, you know I can't do that while I'm driving."  
  
She grinned. "I'm a simple wife to please, I'll settle for a good story about the good old days."  
  
"You don't want to hear an Angelus story?" He asked incredulous.  
  
"No, I was thinking more like an early relationship type of story." She said wickedly.  
  
"Oh yeah, when we were never out of bed, you naughty girl."  
  
Cordelia went straight upstairs to see the children when they got back. Ashleigh stirred so she picked her up and went to sit in the rocker in the corner with her.  
  
"Who's my beautiful baby girl?" She whispered. "Mommy missed you sweetheart."  
  
The baby just gurgled.  
  
She rocked gently back and forwards in the chair, soothing Ashleigh back off to sleep.  
  
Angel came into the room and knelt at Cordelia's feet. "Hey, how you doing?"  
  
She smiled. "Better now I've seen them."  
  
He nodded. "I get that. I didn't know what to tell them. About why we left and why Faith and Wes stayed."  
  
"It's okay, I'll think of something and tale to them in the morning." She yawned. "How come I'm always tired?"  
  
He smiled. "It's been a rough few days. Why don't you give her to me and you go back into our room and get into bed?"  
  
She kissed Ashleigh's head and handed her to Angel gently, as not to wake her.  
  
She crossed the room to Connor's crib and bent to kiss him. While she was bent over Angel took that opportunity to run a hand over her backside.  
  
"Pervert." She whispered and smiled.  
  
He raised his eyebrows. "I've got to take what's on offer, what with us being an old married couple."  
  
She laughed quietly and leaned against the crib, watching as he put Ashleigh down. "Less of the old. In my case of course. You can say you're as old as you like. But then again, I guess you don't know how old you are. You stopped counting when you turned two hundred and fifty."  
  
He turned to look at her frowning. "I'm two hundred and forty nine!"  
  
She grinned. "Same thing."  
  
"No it isn't." He began advancing on her.  
  
"It really is. Once an old man, always an old man." She taunted.  
  
He growled and pulled her flush towards him, the evidence of her taunting becoming obvious.  
  
He reached around her to pick her up, letting her wrap her legs around his waist. "You're going to pay, little girl."  
  
"Say that once more and we might have a problem." She smirked.  
  
He found himself smiling too as he carried her into their room, shutting the door behind them.  
  
"You know." He told her, nibbling on her neck. "I've got some handcuffs in here somewhere."  
  
She shook her head. "Just make love to me Angel."  
  
He saw the earnestness in her eyes and nodded, lifting his head up so he could kiss her lips tenderly.  
  
"I love you." He murmured.  
  
He lay her down on the bed gently and kissed her neck; sending shivers up her spine and making her arch her back into him.  
  
He slipped the sleeves of her vest off her shoulders and kissed a path along her collarbone.  
  
"Angel, please." She almost begged.  
  
He lifted her hips with one hand while he slipped her skirt off her legs, quickly following with her underwear.  
  
He touched her gently with his fingertips before removing his own clothes.  
  
She sat up and pulled her vest over her head, revealing her bare breasts to him.  
  
He stared at her for what seemed like days before reaching out and holding her to him.  
  
She put her legs over his so they were both sat up but she was on top of him. Gently and slowly he tilted her backwards so he could enter her, causing her back to arch away from him and her chest to push forwards.  
  
She moaned as he filled her. So perfectly and so fulfilling.  
  
She began to move on top of him so slowly it drove them both wild with desire.  
  
He gripped her hips with his hands, guiding her up and down on top of him. "Cordelia?"  
  
She gasped as he hit a spot inside of her that sent tremors around her body. "Yeah?"  
  
He gazed into the questioning, yet trusting brown eyes. "I'm going to try something."  
  
He hit her sensitive spot again and she nodded.  
  
He ran his hand from where it rest on her hip down across the swell of her buttocks. He began to apply gentle pressure to her anus, gently easing a finger inside of her.  
  
Her eyes had now fluttered open, focusing directly on his. "What..?"  
  
He shushed her. "Do you trust me?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
He began moving his finger in and out; matching the pace she was setting on top of him.  
  
Her small gasps began moans and then became screams as his other hand joined in her pleasure.  
  
"Angel." She gasped as she fell into him, her climax lifting her to new heights.  
  
He gripped her body to keep her from falling as he reached his own peak.  
  
They fell together onto the bed, still joined and clinging to each other.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked as he felt her body shaking.  
  
She nodded and felt her forehead break out in a cold sweat.  
  
He touched it gently. "Are you sure?"  
  
She nodded again.  
  
"Can you talk?"  
  
She shook her head weakly but smiled.  
  
He laughed softly. "That good?"  
  
Her eyes had started to close but she looked at him and nodded. "Yeah." She murmured.  
  
Her eyes closed and he let her go to sleep, wrapping his arms around her tightly.  
  
She woke up still cocooned in his grasp. She smiled up at him and kissed his chin. "Morning."  
  
"Good morning." He smiled back and kissed her. "Feeling more awake?"  
  
She grinned sheepishly. "I fell straight to sleep huh?"  
  
He nodded. "I guess I should be flattered."  
  
"You should." She agreed and snuggled closer to him. "It's freezing in here."  
  
"I'll turn the heating up when we get up." He told her, pulling the blankets around them tighter. "Better?"  
  
She nodded. "Much."  
  
Connor started to shuffle in his crib and moments later they heard him start to wail.  
  
Cordelia started to get up but Angel beat her to it and made her stay in bed.  
  
She saw him walk through to the nursery and bend to pick him up. She took that moment to admire his naked form. Oh yeah, it was still good.  
  
Angel gave Connor to her and then got back in bed, pulling the blankets up around their chests.  
  
Cordelia cradled Connor against her arm and cooed at him. He gurgled back at her.  
  
"I love watching you with them." He told her lovingly.  
  
She smiled at him, almost sadly. "It doesn't seem fair that Faith couldn't have had her baby."  
  
He squeezed her knee. "I know."  
  
"But you see all those women going and having abortions. There are millions of babies unwanted. And Faith wanted her baby, she didn't want it dead. It doesn't seem fair."  
  
"I know." He agreed. "But some things in life aren't fair, that's one of them."  
  
"I know." She murmured, stroking Connor's cheek with her fingertip. "It doesn't mean I have to stop thinking about it though."  
  
"Think about it all you want, but don't let it get to you as much." He advised. "Hey, how about I run you a hot bath? That'll warm you up."  
  
She nodded. "That would be nice."  
  
He kissed her forehead and got out of bed again.  
  
Cordelia smiled at Connor. "Do you want to take a bath baby?"  
  
He nodded and smiled although Cordelia doubted very much that he knew what she was saying.  
  
True to his word Angel had run Cordelia a bath and she climbed in with Connor who enjoyed playing with the bubbles and a yellow plastic duck they had bought him.  
  
After a few minutes Angel came in with Ashleigh so he took Connor while Cordelia bathed her.  
  
Angel took Connor downstairs to start work, leaving Cordelia upstairs with Ashleigh.  
  
By the time she came downstairs Gunn, Fred and Lorne were there.  
  
"Hey Cordelia!" Fred grinned. "How did Sunnydale go?"  
  
She shrugged. "We found Dawn, so that was good."  
  
"What happened with Faith?" She asked quietly.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Well, something must have happened. I mean, she's not here now." She reasoned.  
  
"Fred, I told you nothing happened." Cordelia told her sharply, but not meanly.  
  
"Why is she still there then?"  
  
Cordelia rubbed her eyes. "Fred, it's none of your damn business!"  
  
Cordelia felt everyone's eyes on her and regretted her words when she saw Fred's eyes fill with tears. "Fred, I'm sorry it's just."  
  
The phone rang and she grabbed it. "Angel Investigations."  
  
"Hey Cordy." Buffy said into the phone.  
  
"Buffy, how are you?" Cordelia instantly asked, turning her back on the office.  
  
"I'm okay I guess, tired mostly. And drained." She admitted.  
  
"That's understandable." Cordelia sympathised. "Have you talked to Dawn yet?"  
  
"Well, I got back at six o clock this morning. She was asleep. For the first five minutes. That is, until I got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door. She nearly jumped out of the window."  
  
Cordelia fought the urge to laugh. "I'm sorry, but I could just imagine Dawn's face."  
  
Buffy laughed softly. "It was a picture. And even better one when she told me she wasn't pregnant."  
  
"If it helps she sounded really sorry when I spoke to her." Cordelia offered.  
  
"I know she is. But I wish she could have given me a chance to see that before she made me think she was on her way to Florida." Buffy argued. "She just made me so mad!"  
  
"I know, but hey, it could have been worse. There could be a baby Summers on its way." Cordelia told her helpfully.  
  
Buffy swore at her.  
  
"Now Buffy, that's not a nice thing to say." She chided.  
  
Buffy laughed. "Thanks for talking sense into her Cordelia, I'll call you later."  
  
"See you Buffy, don't kill her." Cordelia told her with a smile.  
  
Cordelia put down the phone and turned to apologise to Fred but she'd gone into the office and was tapping away on Wes's computer.  
  
"Are you okay?" Angel asked.  
  
She nodded. "I shouldn't have bitten Fred's head off like that."  
  
"She did push you a little." Angel smiled. "Not enough for you to scare her into next week, but enough."  
  
She grinned at him. "I'm not that scary!"  
  
He just looked at her. "I'm not!"  
  
It was three days later when Faith and Wes came home. It was eleven in the morning and Cordelia and the children were the only ones in the hotel. Angel had gone hunting in the sewers with Lorne while Fred and Gunn had gone out for tacos.  
  
They came through the doors looking content and happy.  
  
"Hey guys." Cordelia greeted from her perch in the middle of the lobby floor. She was sat playing with building blocks with Ashleigh and Connor.  
  
"Hey Cor, nice outfit you got there." Faith grinned at Cordelia's mismatched outfit.  
  
She'd woken up this morning to discover that Angel hadn't done the laundry so she had to wear the bottom half of her old cheerleading uniform, which was a very short maroon skirt, and an orange vest top. "Well, you know, I thought I'd make an effort for when you guys came home."  
  
Wes smiled at her. "Everything okay I hope?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, except Fred was on your computer yesterday and I think she deleted a whole bunch of files."  
  
His face went white and he hurried to the office, dropping their bags on the stairs.  
  
"How are you?" Cordelia asked her, patting the spot next to her on the floor.  
  
"I'm good." She said as she flopped down next to her. "I'm surprisingly good."  
  
"Did you and Wesley bond? Or whatever it was that you guys were supposed to do."  
  
She shrugged. "We talked and shouted and then talked some more. Everything is out in the open and that feels good. We feel a lot closer and I think we've been more honest with each other."  
  
"That's good." Cordelia smiled and ducked to avoid a block Connor threw her way.  
  
"Did you tell anyone?" Faith asked, stroking Ashleigh's hair.  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "I practically bit Fred's head off the other day because she was asking so many questions but I managed to get around her and apologise. I didn't think you'd want it broadcasting."  
  
She nodded. "Thanks."  
  
"Are you going to tell them?"  
  
"I don't know, I'll see how it goes."  
  
Wes came out of his office with a look of relief on his face and sat down next to them. "Where is everyone?"  
  
"Well, Gunn and Fred get hungry."  
  
"So they went to the Mexican." He finished.  
  
"And Angel and Lorne went into the sewers." She continued.  
  
"To see if there are any big bads to kill." Faith concluded.  
  
"Okay, so we're all very predictable." Cordelia admitted.  
  
"Yeah, you little housewife." Faith teased and then they all started laughing for no apparent reason.  
  
Connor and Ashleigh were looking at them with confused looks on their faces. "Its okay babies, Mommy's just going insane." Cordelia told them with a smile and then hugged Ashleigh to her.  
  
"Nothing more then usual." Faith grinned and then got smacked on the head by a stray building block Connor had found. "Oh great, now your son's in on it."  
  
She grabbed him and tickled him, smiling when he giggled at her.  
  
"Well, it's good to see things about to get back to normal." Wes decided. "Had a vision?"  
  
Cordelia pulled a face at him. "I swear, if you jinx me there's going to be trouble."  
  
"I thought they weren't painful anymore?" He frowned.  
  
"They're not, but they have the tendency to be smelly, they make me dizzy and its not all that fun to be in the place of the victim." She clarified.  
  
"Of course." He agreed. "Sorry."  
  
"Hey strudels, you're back!" Lorne exclaimed, coming through the sewer access, closely followed by Angel. "And you too Faith!"  
  
She grinned at his joke. "Hey Lorne."  
  
Angel came across to kiss Cordelia's head and then went to put his sword back in the weapons cabinet. "What time did you get back?"  
  
"About ten minutes ago." Wesley told him. "We were just discussing the possibility of Cordelia having a vision."  
  
She pulled a face at him.  
  
"Do you want to come out to dinner with us tonight? Cordy and I are going to a new Italian restaurant on the other side of town." Angel asked them. "You're welcome to come."  
  
They looked at each other and then nodded. "That would be nice." Wes told him.  
  
"Great, I'll call the restaurant and change the reservation." Cordelia smiled. "Are you still okay to baby-sit?" She asked Lorne.  
  
He nodded. "I'll stay here looking after the children while you lot go out and have fun!"  
  
"You're welcome to join us." Cordelia offered. "It's just you said."  
  
"It's okay princess, I know what I said." He smiled. "Besides, I wouldn't exactly blend in. You go and have fun! Lord knows you need it more than I do."  
  
His final words were directed at Faith and Wesley which made them wonder just how much he had picked up from the two minutes he had been in the room.  
  
The meal wasn't as nice as some of the other places they'd been but it was edible.  
  
Faith and Cordelia spent most of the time gossiping while Angel and Wes talked shop.  
  
Angel squeezed Cordelia's thigh under the table and she turned to smile at him. "Having a good time?" He asked.  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, this is nice."  
  
Wes interrupted them. "I'd like to propose a toast."  
  
He held up his glass of wine. "To Cordelia, I told you I'd thank you properly and I want."  
  
"No." She interrupted. "To Faith, she's the one who deserves it."  
  
"How about to all or us?" Angel asked.  
  
"To all of us." They chorused and clinked glasses.  
  
"Everything will be okay now." Faith smiled. "We're back at home, everyone is alive and happy. What could go wrong?"  
  
The End 


End file.
